Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone that induces red blood cell production. In its recombinant form, EPO is the one of most prescribed drugs to treat anemia, including that arising in cancer patients. In randomized trials, EPO administration to cancer patients has been associated with decreased survival. Here, we investigated the impact of EPO modulation on tumorigenesis. Using genetically engineered mouse models of breast cancer, we found that EPO promoted tumorigenesis by activating JAK/STAT signaling in breast tumor-initiating cells (TICs) and promoted TIC self renewal. We determined that EPO was induced by hypoxia in breast cancer cell lines, but not in human mammary epithelial cells. Additionally, we demonstrated that high levels of endogenous
Bing Zhou, Jeffrey S. Damrauer, Sean T. Bailey, Tanja Hadzic, Youngtae Jeong, Kelly Clark, Cheng Fan, Laura Murphy, Cleo Y. Lee, Melissa A. Troester, C. Ryan Miller, Jian Jin, David Darr, Charles M. Perou, Ross L. Levine, Maximilian Diehn, William Y. Kim